


primeval fic [1/1]: Fruit jellies, lemon shampoo

by dominique012



Category: Primeval
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-05
Updated: 2014-04-05
Packaged: 2018-01-18 06:52:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1418934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dominique012/pseuds/dominique012
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i> Abby turned. “Look, Connor. Have you ever seen anything like this?"</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	primeval fic [1/1]: Fruit jellies, lemon shampoo

**Author's Note:**

> My first ever Primeval fic! For [](http://rodlox.livejournal.com/profile)[**rodlox**](http://rodlox.livejournal.com/) in the [](http://primevalathon.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://primevalathon.livejournal.com/)**primevalathon** ficathon, with the prompt of what kind of prehistoric creature (never fossilized) might have come through the anomalies.

**Rating** : G  
 **Words:** 1610  
 **Spoilers:** None  
 **Summary:** _Abby turned. “Look, Connor. Have you ever seen anything like this?"_  
 **Notes:** My first ever Primeval fic! For [](http://rodlox.livejournal.com/profile)[**rodlox**](http://rodlox.livejournal.com/) in the [](http://primevalathon.livejournal.com/profile)[**primevalathon**](http://primevalathon.livejournal.com/) ficathon, with the prompt of what kind of prehistoric creature (never fossilized) might have come through the anomalies.

Connor blinked in the bright sunlight and shifted the heavy pack on his shoulder. His eyes followed Abby’s trainers crunching steadily along the gravel. The path sloped steeply upwards, and to his left, the jagged cliff face fell down to dark, churning waves.

Abby stopped suddenly, and Connor stumbled, pulling back sharply to avoid colliding with her. He encountered suddenly, though not unwelcomely, a close view of the nape of her neck. He leaned in a fraction as he caught a hint of her shampoo. Something vaguely lemony. He breathed in slowly.

“It’s wonderful, isn’t it?”

Connor jumped to attention, and moved back a step. He tilted his head. “Um, what is?”

Abby turned, rolling her eyes. “Look, Connor. Have you ever seen anything like this?”

He followed her gaze and looked out over the water. No, he had not. It was spectacular. The island they were on was like a giant rock sticking out of the ocean – dark and steep, and covered with sharp ridges and spiky plants. It stood 700 metres high, rising straight out of the blue water. 

It was just one of at least 12 similar islands in the ocean surrounding them. Standing together, dark and massive, they were like a huge, alien guard of honour.

Connor turned from the ocean view to the path ahead, which continued its steep ascent. Since coming through the anomaly, they’d only been ascending, negotiating shelves of rock, cliffs, and slippery winding paths with far more climbing and clambering and scrambling than he normally liked.

Abby looked up at the sky and then at the ocean around them. “This is amazing.” She beamed.

Connor’s gaze lingered on her awestruck expression and he smiled back, inwardly echoing her sentiment.

She gestured up ahead. “Come on. Cutter’s mystery creature awaits.”

Connor raised an eyebrow. “The mysterious  _soft-bodied_  creature.” He grinned. “Sounds like a Scooby Doo episode, doesn’t it? Softbody of Freaky Island.  Brilliant!”

Abby nodded slowly. “Right. Let’s just keep moving, Connor.”

+++

Connor groaned. “Oh. God."  He sat gingerly down on a large rock. "I hate the outdoors.”

Abby smirked and offered him a bottle of water. “Stay calm. You’ll be back home and connected to the TV before you know it.” She looked around. They'd stopped in a relatively clear area, with fewer sharp rocks and trees, where they could search for the creatures and also gain an unencumbered view of the lower parts of the island.

Abby began ticking points off on her fingers: “So - round, with a soft body, very likely invertebrate, limbs if any would be short and stumpy, and –"

“Purple!” Connor finished delightedly. “Maybe the weirdest creature ever. It sounds made up!” He paused, frowning. “Hey. You don’t think Cutter’s winding us up?”

Abby took his hat and swatted him. “Connor! The sample from the parking station? It definitely had a soft, squishy…violet look about it.”

He nodded seriously. “Right." He pondered. "It’s just..no fossil record, we know it’s not a Cnidaria...and no other information. What are we looking for? Prehistoric creatures resembling fruit jellies?”

"Connor, I _think_ the idea is to confirm the source of that corrosive goo they found in the parking station. Anyway, Cutter’s hardly going to bring us through just for a bit of fun! He and Stephen are still looking around back down near the anomaly."

Convinced for now, Connor stood up. "Right then. Fruit jellies here we come."

+++

It was deafening. Abby put her lips next to his ear and yelled. “So, fruit jellies?”

Connor winced, shouting back. “No! Right, well – not a wind-up then.”

They were sheltering under a huge black overhang of rock. One hand holding his hat, Connor leaned out to get a better look at the creatures. The fruit jellies.

There were hundreds of them thundering – rolling – down the hill all around them. Connor stared, slowly shaking his head. They were round. Round, soft, and purple, with thin, rubbery-looking skin. Bouncing off one another and off the rocks, they seemed to have little control over where they headed; occasionally a group of nodule-like feet seemed to drop down, and with a little scurry the creature could change course slightly.

They'd taken Abby and Connor by surprise, seeming to just appear out of a deep crevasse on the sloping hillside. Connor had no idea how they'd managed it. He imagined them piling on top of one another until they could start rolling down. It looked like someone had let go of a bag of purple rubber balls at the top of the hill.

With a grin, Abby crouched down and watched the flurry of purple rushing by.

"Cutter is not going to believe this. We have to follow them."

Connor snorted. "Well we’d better stay behind them, or we'll be stampeded." He pondered. "They're heading back down towards where the anomaly was. We could have just waited for them."

Abby slapped his back. "Such an adventurer, aren't you?" She leaned out of their hiding spot and up the hill. "Come on. That's almost all of them. We're going to have to start moving if we want to keep up."

+++

Jogging down the hill towards the jostling, rumbling cloud of purple, his backpack bumping against his back and his shoes sliding and slipping along gravel, Conner focused all concentration on merely staying upright.

_Jogging down a hill towards a pack of purple, softbodied ball-creatures._

He grinned elatedly as both the weirdness of the situation and its normality suddenly captured him. It was a nice change, really, from the usual—running/swimming/screaming _away_ from some kind of huge, hungry carnivorous creature.

A couple of steps ahead of him Abby skittered precariously across some small stones. She let out a shriek and shouted over her shoulder, "What are we doing?!"

She laughed, and Connor’s smile widened at the sound. He yelled over to her, “Come on, Abby!” He picked up his pace, feeling giddy excitement build as he rushed faster down the hill, letting his feet slide a little further, and jumping over rocks. He glanced between the throng of purple creatures, and Abby, who he was now gaining on. “Lift your game! We’ve got some freaky –"

_BUMP! Thwack._

\- rubber ball creatures to catch. He finished the thought internally, while spitting out a mouthful of dirt.

He was racing down the hill even faster now, watching the scenery blur past, still in pursuit of the creatures, but no longer worrying about staying on his feet.

Rolling, rolling down the hill. Head-over-feet-over-head.

He wondered, fleetingly, how it would feel to roll into a throng of rubbery, soft-bodied ball-creatures.

Black.

+++

"Connor?"

He frowned.

He could hear Abby, but it was Cutter's stubbled face that peered down at him.

"Connor!" There it was again; Abby's voice coupled with Cutter's face.

Connor felt dirt in his hands and a hard surface under his head, and suddenly realized he was lying on his back. They were near the anomaly through which they'd arrived. He could see the beach in the distance. He started to move.

Cutter crouched down, and thankfully seemed to have regained his own voice. "No, don't move, Connor. You've got a bunch of cuts and scrapes all over. Also your knee – "

Burns. Connor frowned again. His knee felt like it was burning. Bending his leg, he saw a hole in his trousers; his bare knee was purple and looked as though it had recently been bubbling. "Oh." He groaned. "OW!"

And then Abby was there, having just reached them. She was red-faced and out of breath. Connor realised he'd been hearing her voice yelling his name over and over as he tumbled down the hill.

"Connor! Oh, God. You're ok. You came this close to rolling right into the middle of them." She looked at Cutter. "He's ok?"

Cutter nodded. "I think so." He gently prodded Connor's knee, "He's kindly provided us with another sample of that corrosive fluid too."

Connor bit his lip and smiled weakly. "Well. Anything for science, yeah? All part of the plan."

He propped himself up on his elbows and looked around. "Where are they then? The fruit jellies."

Cutter frowned quizzically at him. He nodded towards the beach. "You lost them. Straight into the sea." He shrugged. "They don't match up with the jellyfish fossils on record, but there might be some connection."

Abby looked around. "What? They all went in? We didn't get a close look!"

"Stephen's managed to corral one. He's checking it out now, and analyzing the fluid."

Connor flopped down onto the hard ground. He looked up at the bright blue sky before closing his eyes.

Abby crouched down and leaned over him. "So. Softbody of Freaky Island. Case closed?"

Connor smiled, his eyes still shut. "Case closed." He groaned once more. "Connor Closed."

Abby laughed. He opened his eyes and looked up at her. The sun was behind her, framing her light hair. Her cheeks were flushed, and she looked down at him with an impish grin. He breathed in.

That shampoo really was lovely.

 

**end**


End file.
